1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image supply apparatus for supplying image data relating to recording, an image output apparatus which receives supplied image data to output a color image to a recording medium and an image forming system having the foregoing apparatuses. More particularly, the present invention relates to a printing system for printing an image on a recording medium such as a cloth. Furthermore, the present invention relates to an image output apparatus having an image repeating function for repeatedly recording the same image.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image is outputted, there is sometimes desired to record an objective image on a recording medium in such a manner that another image data item is superposed on the objective image (first image data) which is the subject of the recording operation. In a cloth printing field, for example, in which an image is printed on a cloth, a brand (logotype) of a manufacturer or a designer is printed repeatedly at an end portion of a cloth.
Some conventional image output apparatuses such as printers have an arrangement that image data supplied from an external equipment, such as a host computer, is outputted as it is or temporarily stored in an incorporated buffer memory before the image data is outputted as an image. The image output apparatus having the buffer memory uses the buffer memory in order to establish consistency between the data transmission speed from the host computer and the image output speed of the printer. Furthermore, a printer apparatus, i.e., a page printer such as a laser beam, having an image memory capable of storing developed pixel data for one or more pages has been widely used because print data expressed in a page description language is developed into pixel data (bit map data).
Recently, a special image output is sometimes made to realize a geometrical image by repeatedly outputting a certain basic image. If a wide area image composed of repeated images, such as wall paper or a cloth, is printed by a printer of the aforesaid type, the printer must perform the following process: data about the whole image, in which the geometrical image is formed, is made by the host computer and the data having an excessively large capacity is transmitted from the host computer to the printer. If the printer apparatus has no buffer memory for the received image data, the correspondence between the image data transmission speed from the host computer and the printing speed of the printer apparatus must be held by the following adjustment methods: the calculation of the large quantity of image data is completed faster than the printing speed of the printer apparatus; the calculation is performed in advance; and the printing speed of the printer is conformed to the data transmission speed from the host computer.
An image forming apparatus having an image repeating function with which the same image can be repeatedly printed can be available. The image repeating function provided for the aforesaid apparatus will now be described with reference to FIGS. 55 and 56. Referring to FIG. 55, reference numeral 761 represents an original having an image to be repeatedly recorded. In this example, the image of symbol “A” in an area 711 is repeatedly formed. FIGS. 56A–56C illustrate examples in which the image in the area 711 of the original 761 is repeatedly printed. FIG. 56A illustrates a state where the image of the area 711 shown in FIG. 55 is read and the image is printed on an area 712 of a recording medium 771. After the area 712 has been printed, the printer does not advance the paper, but again reads the area 711 of the original 761 so as to print it on the area 713 of a recording medium 771 as shown in FIG. 56B. After the area 713 has been printed, the printer does not further advance the paper, but reads the area 711 of the original 761 so as to print it onto the area 714 of the recording medium 771 as shown in FIG. 56C. As a result of the aforesaid operation, an image as shown in FIG. 56C is formed by performing the operation of recording the same image three times. By reading the same area plural times and printing onto different positions of a medium, the image repetition function is realized.
When recording is performed while superposing image data, such as logotype, on the original image data, it might be considered that a superposed image data that the image data is previously superposed on the original image data is recorded. However, a predetermined image process, such as a head shading correction, γ-correction and UCR conversion process, performed prior to recording the superposed image data will also affect the image data other than the original image data. Therefore, the image data cannot be recorded as desired. If the image data is, for example, character image data there is a fear that it cannot be clearly recorded.
If there is a desire that basic image is repeatedly printed on the recording medium while being formed into various shapes (it is an ordinary case for the cloth printing field), the position at which other image data (logotype mark) is printed is limited by the repeated pattern of the basic image. As a result, the other image such as the logotype mark cannot, sometimes, be printed at the desired position.
If a large quantity of image data is transmitted to a printer from a host computer, it takes a long time to transmit the image data. Therefore, the host computer inevitably takes a long time to complete the process for printing. Another problem takes place in that an excessively long time is required to obtain the final output image. If the large quantity of image data is stored in the buffer memory of the printer, there arises a problem in that the buffer memory must have an excessively large capacity. If the geometrically repeated image data is generated by an external equipment such as the host computer, a long time is required to generate the image data.
In addition, the conventional image repeating function is a function for simply repeating the operation of printing the same image. Therefore, the repeated image pattern cannot be varied.